A Place to Belong

I. First Attack

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is my NaNoWriMo novel for this year (2010); I am posting a very raw, unedited chapters of this story since I am on a very tight deadline (gotta finish or at least reach 50,000 words by the end of November) here I can't always go back and edit it if I want to, but if you'd be wonderful enough to leave your comment and suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it.  

I. First Attack  

LORELEI'S DAY STARTED OFF LIKE ANY OTHER DAY SHE'S HAD. She got up early, tinkered about in her cozy one-bedroom apartment, checked her email and replied to some messages from friends scattered all over the country - some were lucky enough to be out of the country and working their dream jobs - and made herself a pot of fresh coffee. She was in and out of the shower in record time and was taking her time fixing her hair and toyed around with the idea of using eyeliner to highlight her eyes, which were her best assets as far as she was concerned.  

Working as a barrista at a trendy and hip coffee shop required her to wear uniform at all times. Since it was a standard black dress pants and white button-down top, Lorelei didn't particularly feel like making herself look pretty for an eight hour shift being on her feet majority of the time. But this morning she woke up feeling different. It was Friday meaning she had the weekend to look forward to (having worked at the said coffee shop since it opened its doors to the public over five years ago she earned the right to have weekends off). She made plans with her sister to check out the newly opened bar tonight, and prior to her bar date with her sister she was meeting up with an old high school friend for some drinks at a popular pasta restaurant's lounge. Her Friday night calendar was fully booked, which was a rare occurence in Lorelei's somewhat mundane life.  

It was almost eight-thirty when she left her apartment and jogged down the steps instead of taking the elevator down from her fifth-floor suite. She seldom went to the gym and exercised; her taking the stairs going up and down her building was a good enough exercise for her plus the almost fifteen-minute walk from her place to the coffee shop. It was a crisp, sunny fall morning and no signs of rain was in the forecast; Lorelei decided to take her chances and walked to work today instead of taking her car and drive to work.  

Seems like everybody else had the same idea as hers this morning. Lorelei passed by people she knew who frequented the coffee shop as well as those who lived near her place. She smiled and exchanged morning pleasantries with the ones she knew but she didn't break stride; she didn't want to be delayed getting to work, especially on a Friday morning like this morning. With the promise of a long weekend coming up everyone was gearing up to get out of the city and enjoy the lake for some last-minute fishing or boating or seado-ing before the weather gets too cold. Some of the nature lovers wanted to get some last-minute camping time in and probably work on their tan; plus chances of being feasted on by mosquitoes around this time of the year wouldn't be as bad if they went at the height of the summer season. Mosquitoes are vicious little blood suckers that tend to find a spot to bite that a person wouldn't have thought possible for them to find, penetrate and suck away some blood, leaving the said spot itchy as hell for days! Lorelei should know since that has happened to her countless times over the summer.  

Reaching the front steps of Beanz Stop, Lorelei was surprised to see the long line-up inside. She glanced down at her wristwatch and noted it wasn't even nine o'clock yet. Usually their morning rush of coffee-guzzling patrons don't come in until well after nine-thirty; people often take their drinks and snacks out on the open-air fenced patio. Lorelei couldn't blame their patrons from wanting to sit out on the patio while enjoying their hot cups of java; since the store was at the very end of the street the open-air patio area overlooked the sprawling view of the winding river decked with trees and other greeneries on either side of it.